Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for August 21, 2014

James Oglethorpe and the Creek Indians signed the Treaty of Coweta Town, delineating geographic areas open to British settlement, on August 21, 1739.

On August 21, 1831, Nat Turner led the largest slave rebellion in American history; Turner was later hanged in Jerusalem, VA.

The first of the Lincoln-Douglass series of seven debates was held in Ottawa, Illinois, on August 21, 1858, pitting Democrat Stephen Douglass against Republican Abraham for the United States Senate seat held by Douglass. Expansion of slavery in the United States was the topic for the debates.

On August 21, 1907, Georgia Governor Hoke Smith signed legislation to place a Constitutional Amendment designed to disenfranchise African-Americans by requiring passage of a literacy test to vote. A number of exceptions allowed local officials to exempt white voters whom they wished to allow to vote; one exemption was for anyone descended from a U.S. or Confederate wartime veteran – the so-called “grandfather clause.”

On the same day, Gov. Smith also signed legislation prohibiting fishing on Sunday, subject to misdemeanor prosecution.

On August 21, 1935, Benny Goodman and his orchestra began a seven-night stand at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, beginning the Swing Era.

Happy 55th birthday to Hawaii, which became the 50th State on August 21, 1959; they’ve undoubtedly been receiving AARP literature in the mail for ten years.

The 1968 Democratic National Convention began in Chicago on August 21, 1968.

http://youtu.be/DyUCZ0t4dug

The name of Julian Bond of Georgia, then-27 and too young to serve, was placed in nomination for Vice President during the 1968 DNC.

State Rep. candidate Michael Brown died

Republican candidate Michael Brown, who won the Primary nomination by a 60-40 margin, died Monday, leaving the ballot empty for House District 98, formerly held by State Rep. Josh Clark.

The Georgia Republican Party State Executive Committee is expected to name a replacement on Tuesday, who will be the only candidate for HD98 on the ballot in November and will take office in January 2015.

Jason Thompson, Chair of the Seventh District of the GAGOP, will head the nomination committee that will interview potential candidates and recommend 3-4 names to the full State Executive Committee.

Nunn-Perdue debate

Macon, Georgia is the center of the United States politics tonight, as the much-ballyhooed Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue meet in the first debate for what many hopeful Democrats think is a competitive race upon which control of the United States Senate may hinge. Debate hosts are the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Association of Broadcasters and the Georgia News Network.

Hosted by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Association of Broadcasters and the Georgia News Network, the event, which starts at 12:15 p.m., marks the first time the candidates will appear together, according to a news release from the Georgia Chamber.

Candidates will give opening statements and then answer questions from a moderator, according to the release.

The race between Nunn, a Democrat, and Perdue, a Republican, is going to be a “huge national event,” said Charles Bullock, the Richard B. Russell Professor of political science at the University of Georgia.

WMAZ in Macon has more on the format of the “debate”.

That format means Perdue and Nunn won’t be speaking directly to each other.

Starting at 12:15 p.m., Nunn and Perdue are to give opening statements and then answer the same four questions from the moderator, John Pruitt.

“It’s really safer for both candidates,” Clif Wilkinson, a political science professor at Georgia College and State University said. “Neither candidate has run for office before. This is the format that both can feel comfortable in. If I were the campaign manager, I’d likely suggest this type of format.”

One recent poll by Survey USA says Perdue has the upper hand. It shows him with a 9-point lead over Nunn.

Wilkinson says to take the win, Perdue needs to play it safe.

“He needs not to make a mistake. He’s got to be very careful not to put his foot in his mouth, not to say something that’s completely unbelievable that would come across as very negative or derogatory,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wilkinson says Nunn needs to find a way to get her message across and fire up voters.

“Nunn cannot win this race without getting a number of Democrats to show up at the polls. Where the race may be won is which candidate will resonate best with, say the peanut farmer in Sylvester,” Wilkinson said.

There is a reason campaigns are not run by political science professors.

As far as the national implications, the New York Times predictive model moves the Georgia Senate race to Likely Republican, giving an 88% probability of Perdue winning in November based on the publicly-available polling. Here’s the money quote:

For several months, Georgia had represented a possible window of opportunity for Democrats in a midterm cycle in which most Democrats are playing defense. Although Ms. Nunn cannot yet be counted out, this latest polling suggests that window may be closing.

Lowering Democratic expectations in Georgia also mean that the NYT’s assessment of the probability of the GOP taking a Senate majority is also inching upward.

The Pro-Abortion EMILY’s List has bought $1 million in Atlanta airtime to boost Democrat Michelle Nunn.

The $1 million ad buy will be the largest single outside expenditure in the race to date, topping a $920,000 U.S. Chamber of Commerce ad buy in April.

Michelle Nunn, the Democrats’ nominee to replace retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., is one of the party’s brighter stars in this election cycle, but she faces an uphill climb to defeat Perdue in a state that hasn’t voted statewide for a Democrat since 2000. The last major survey of the race, a CBS/New York Times/YouGov poll conducted from July 5 to 25, showed Perdue leading Nunn by 6 percentage points.

The ad, which has not yet been made public, will focus on a gender pay discrimination suit brought by female store managers claiming Dollar General had underpaid them during Perdue’s tenure. Dollar General settled the suit in 2011 after Perdue had left as CEO, a role he held from 2003 to 2007.

More than 140 Georgia women joined the suit, EMILY’s List points out.

“David Perdue owes Georgians answers about his shady business dealings that put his own profits ahead working women,” EMILY’s List spokeswoman Marcy Stech said. “And he certainly needs to be straightforward with the women of Georgia who deserve to know if he still believes it’s OK to pay women less than men for the same job.”

This is potentially a very strong ad against Perdue, as Pew Research Center pointed out earlier this year:

Even though women have increased their presence in higher-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men, such as professional and managerial positions, women as a whole continue to work in lower-paying occupations than men do. And some part of the pay gap may also be due to gender discrimination –women are about twice as likely as men to say they had been discriminated against at work because of their gender (18% vs. 10%).

And from the Wall Street Journal in 2013:

84% of women say men are paid more for similar work, a view borne out by government data but which draws agreement from only two-thirds of men. More than four in 10 women say they have faced gender discrimination personally, most often in the workplace. Both findings are little changed from a 1997 survey.

If the November election will be decided among Independent Women, this is a line of attack you can expect to see further developed between now and the election.

EMILY’s List and affiliated groups have been the recipients of $46 million this election cycle, and their efforts across the nation will be important in the new era of weaponized SuperPACs.

So far this election cycle, donors have handed over $46 million to a collection of political committees and candidates linked to Emily’s List, which backs female contenders who support abortion rights. The Emily’s List network of committees raised more than most other outside groups, including the GOP-backed American Crossroads and the anti-tax Club for Growth.

According to campaign finance documents filed Tuesday, one of the newest benefactors for Emily’s List was Bloomberg. The billionaire former mayor wrote a $2 million check last month to Women Vote, the super PAC run by the group.

[T]he Emily’s List machine collected almost $6 million in July for campaign committees and candidates, according to a review of its tallies for state and federal fundraising efforts.

Democrats are bullish on the prospects for tipping Georgia’s open Senate seat in their favor, with Michelle Nunn as the nominee. The Democratic candidate in Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes, also has posted strong fundraising numbers and has captured her party’s interest. Both seats are currently in Republican hands.

“Democratic women have been at the forefront on every major issue and not only are Americans impressed, they are ready to send them reinforcements,” Emily’s List President Stephanie Schriock said. “We continue to see momentum growing for women’s leadership in this country.”

Meanwhile, Republican David Perdue has sworn off taking contributions from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, though he cannot stop SuperPACs from spending as they see fit.

Perdue: Nunn’s “Strategy of Deception”

Greg Williams Campaign Kickoff Tonight

Georgia State Senate candidate Republican Greg Williams will host his Fall Campaign Kickoff Event at the Dekalb GOP Headquarters on August 21 at 6:30 pm Thursday night. Williams is running for the State Senate seat vacated by Jason Carter, currently running for Governor as the Democratic nominee. Senate District 42 is encompassed entirely in Dekalb County and includes Decatur, Avondale Estates, Toco Hills, Kirkwood, Briarlake, and others.

“I’m excited to kick off the Fall campaign at the Dekalb GOP Headquarters, we’ve been working all year to bring out the Republican vote in Dekalb County and now that we are less than 80 days away from the election, folks are paying attention and making their decisions about who to support in November. I am confident that my message of Transportation Freedom, Expanding School Choice, and Government Accountability will resonate with the voters in District 42,” said Williams.

Greg Williams currently serves as the Chairman of the Buckhead Young Republicans, hosts a weekly radio show on AmericasWebRadio.com, is Editor in Chief of the blog GregsListLive.blog.com, and is employed in the Mortgage industry as a Residential Mortgage Banker. The first time candidate has lived in Dekalb County since 2003.

You can learn more about his campaign at VoteGregWilliams.com.

The Dekalb County Republican Party is located at 1532 Dunwoody Village Parkway, Ste 100, Dunwoody, GA 30338.